Dawgnet: Change and Tradition convocation explains Turkish villages - Henry Glassie

Dawgnet: Change and Tradition convocation explains Turkish villages: "Change and Tradition convocation explains Turkish villages
By Marcy Wilhelm
Dawgnet Opinion Editor
Wednesday, November 9, 2005, 11:59 EST

News SectionEach year, Butler invites speakers to campus to address students on topics related to the Change and Tradition courses.

On Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m., one of those speakers spoke to a crowded Krannert Room about the importance and relevance of the village structure in Islamic society. Henry Glassie, a folklorist who has written a number of books about Islamic cultural topics, relied heavily on images from a slide show to carry the presentation about the design of village structures, and stressed the importance of seeing the images.

“If you don’t hear a word I say, it doesn’t really matter,” he said as he began the presentation.

Glassie then went on to explain the importance of understanding different cultures.

“Nothing is more important now in these terrible times than we understand… Islam,” he said.

Glassie’s work is based in Turkey because, according to some stories, hatred began in Turkey since it is where the battle of Troy occurred.

Glassie first described the terrain of Turkey. He then explained the organization of villages in Turkey. Villages are organized with a mosque in the center, homes surrounding the mosque, fields around the homes and wilderness to the outermost layer. He explained that it is similar to a target or a bulls-eye, with the mosque in the center.

“Every one of these villages follows this same pattern,” he said.

Glassie went into detail about the mosques. First, he said that the villagers do not call them “mosques.”

“Their name for it is ‘jamin,’” he said. “It means a gathering place.” He explained that “jamin” is also the root word for the musical term “jam.”

He talked about the purpose of the mosques, and explained that they are simply meant to be a place for people to gather.

The mosques are designed as big, open spaces not only because they are meant to be gathering places for everyone, but also so that there are no hidden places. Mosques are also designed with many windows. The windows let light in, which to Muslims symbolizes God’s presence.

“You receive on your being, in your eye, the light of God,” Glassie said.

He also talked about the use of the mirab in the mosque. The mirab is an open space oriented to Mecca. Each one contains a niche representing the surah, “God is light upon light.”

Floors of mosques, he explained, are covered by rugs used for prayer. The rugs are usually woven by women.

“They’re also made as a commemoration of someone deceased,” Glassie said.

He explained that this is so that the act of prayer can also be an act of unification between those currently alive with those who were alive before but are no longer.

Glassie then talked about the village itself and the farming traditions.

“The farming people of Turkey choose to live in a tight village,” he said. “Instead of being alone … everyone gathers at harvest time. It is a festival.”

He compared the Turkish villages to villages of a number of other older cultures, including Japanese, English and Portuguese.

“The entire old world was unified at one time by the idea of a village,” he said.

He then contrasted that with the American idea of a village. When the colonies were settled, single farms were used instead of villages, with farms set up in enclosures. Villages were not set up with a church at the center, houses surrounding it, and farmland surrounding those.

He also explained that this represented the change from cooperative farming to competitive farming, as well as a change in attitude from religious to secular.

“In the old world, you lived in the shadow of the church,” he said. “In the new world, there is no church in the picture. What really mattered was the old village had been uprooted … for economic benefit.”

He said that the few exceptions of villages in America are the Hispanic living styles in the southwest and the Mormons in Utah. According to Glassie, they live in villages similar to those in Turkey.

“What is rare in America is the norm in Islam,” he said. “When you come to the world of Islam … you will find them living in a way that is, to us, shockingly cooperative.”

Glassie explained that the landscape of their villages makes this clear.

When he finished his presentation, Glassie invited questions from the audience. The presentation lasted about an hour.

Many students were required to attend the event as a part of the curriculum for the Change and Tradition class.

“It wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be,” sophomore Kim Trubiro said. “But it was good. I liked the incorporation of pictures. It made it more interesting than the previous convocation.”

The next Change and Tradition event will be Monday, Nov. 14 at noon. A pizza chat called “An Islam Fashion Show” will be held in Pharmacy Building room 106."